-Stock A-5 barrel: no comparison, this one is 5x more accurate
-Flatline: not quite as accurate, shoots much further though

Marker Setup:

Tippmann A-5
Smart Parts Tactical 20"
Pure Energy 12oz

RecommendedPaintballs:

Medium Bore, but small still works.
From what I have observed; any kind will work
I have used the worst (wild streak) and great (tork) paint in it. Both work fine, tork is a bit more accurate but not by much.

******Keep in mind I actually OWN this barrel, I can't say so for the other reviews about it

**Story time**: So I am cruising the net's paintball sites, and I run into this awesome looking barrel. So i look into it. No reviews about it on pbreview.com yet, so i was a little doubtful. So I thought why not go out on a limb and try something, it was made by Smart Parts so it couldn't be bad. I got it 5 days later. I raced home from school and I took it out into the abnormally cold, canadian day. I shoot 15 shots, very impressed. Until, a ball broke, after that it was all downhill. Be warned if one ball breaks you cannot, i repeat cannot, shoot it clean. They will 80% all break afterwards and all accuracy is gone. So i was a little disappointed. The next day (below freezing also) I went to my local field to play with some buddies. Second game a ball broke and I was screwed, so i came off cleaned it and played again, same story, ball breaks i go off. I then was a little pissed so I put on my stock barrel and it kept breaking balls. It turns out everyone there on CO2 was breaking balls so it is NOT the barrels fault.

The reason I didn't write this a week ago was becuase i didn't want to give my opinion when i was angry about it. So I went out today in comfortable temperatures and used it again.

A song comes to mind at this point " I can see clearly now the rain is gone".

The barrel blew me away it was amazingly accurate!!
I was able to hit a 2 foot wide board 100% from 35 meters away.
That was also with the cheapest paint money can buy. I once regretted my purchase but realized it was my CO2 the whole time, I love this barrel. (details below)

---***Accuracy***---
This barrel is very very accurate, I am not saying it is as accurate as a real gun, but as close as it gets for paintball anyways. It is a HUGE improvement over the stock one. I highly recommend it.

---***Workmanship***---
This barrel is extremely well built, the inside finish is litterally mirror like, the porting lines up when you screw in the barrel, and it has a nice solid feel to it. It also has a perfect woodsball paint finish, exact same as the A-5.

---***Maneuverabilty***---
This barrel however is quite long. It took a while for me to get used to it. All personal preference however.

---***Weight***---
This barrel isn't too much of a weight diffrence from the stock one, not meaning to brag or anything but I'd say im above average strength so it doesn't bother me at all, I'm sure it won't for you either unless your a 12 year old girl.

---***Made For***---
This barrel is 98% woodsball, it is the exact opposite of a desired speedball barrel. I use it in both though, so it can be both if needed. But its soul is woodsball, if you are a speedsball player do not buy this.

---***Pickiness***---
This barrel is not picky at all on paint, just a tiny bit on velocity however.

Conclusion:

This is the perfect barrel for woodsballers, amateurs and pros alike. It is extremely accurate, but with that comes the akward length. Anyways I conclude by saying this: If you are a woodsballer, buy this barrel. I would give it a 9.8 so that rounds up to 10.

I don't normally like to add on to the burns but a tippmann doesnâ€™t chop any more than any other gun... turn off your eyes, use a stock bolt all markers will probably chop the same amount using the same hopper and same rof.

quote:Originally posted by cbeanOne minor disagreement: The inside of the barrel is not "mirror like" as you have stated. If you look straight down the tube, into a lightbulb, you will get the appearance of a highly polished surface. It's just the angle of reflection becoming so shallow, that your eyes pick up lots of reflected light., and detail starts to get lost. It's easy to overlook if you don't know exactly what you're looking for.

To really check, you need to angle the barrel so that you aren't looking all the way through it, but focusing on the very back of the barrel. If so, you'll notice that the barrel actually has a very grainy texture. (I polish barrels on my own, and I do achieve a mirror like finish).

Of course, it seems that the barrel is teflon coated, so the lack of a true mirror-polished surface is negligible, for a time. The teflon means your barrel will work great for several thousand rounds, before the teflon will wear down. Then you will want to re-polish the iside of the barrel.

The only link I've been able to scrounge up lately is this one:
http://www.tippmannparts.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=catalog.pr odInfo&amp;productID=1327&amp;categoryID=27

Aside from that, your review is an honest appraisal. I commend your efforts.

================Edit================
Oh, and just as an aside, there is nothing wrong with putting HPA into your CO2 tank, provided you do it correctly.

The CO2 tanks are rated for a constant 1200 psi. This means you would have to crank down your HPA supply down to that pressure. Aside from that, there is no difference.

If you pump 3000 psi into your CO2 tank, as is normal for a Hi-Pressure Air setup, you run a very serious risk of your tank going "hydro", a fun way to say "explode".

However, as long as you keep an eye on pressure, as a biomedical technician who works with pressurized gas systems, it presents no real danger so long as you never surpass the pressure rating of your supply tank it's perfectly safe.

Although, filling with only 1200 PSI of compressed air is going to be a very small fill and you won't be getting many shots out of it, I'd have to imagine.

================Edit================
Oh, and just as an aside, there is nothing wrong with putting HPA into your CO2 tank, provided you do it correctly.

The CO2 tanks are rated for a constant 1200 psi. This means you would have to crank down your HPA supply down to that pressure. Aside from that, there is no difference.

If you pump 3000 psi into your CO2 tank, as is normal for a Hi-Pressure Air setup, you run a very serious risk of your tank going "hydro", a fun way to say "explode".

However, as long as you keep an eye on pressure, as a biomedical technician who works with pressurized gas systems, it presents no real danger so long as you never surpass the pressure rating of your supply tank it's perfectly safe.

Although, filling with only 1200 PSI of compressed air is going to be a very small fill and you won't be getting many shots out of it, I'd have to imagine.

NOOOOOOOO!!!!!!

NEVER put HPA into a CO2 tank! Even if you only put in 1200 psi (what the tank is rated for) it is completely unregulated. You would then be putting 1200 psi straight into your marker, which is going to cause a lot of problems. Also, a CO2 tank is full of liquid which will evaporate and help maintain pressure. HPA does not do this, so even if you filled your tank to 850 psi (average output of a tank) it will only continue to drop, so your velocity will never be right.

I thoroughly disagree with imbadatpaintball. I have put at least 5000 rounds through my 98, and my only chops were from bad paint, cold weather, a flatline, or a combination of those. Even then I've only had about 30 chops out of 5000 balls.

quote:Originally posted by AngryInsurgentYou do all know that having a 20" barrel does not help accuracy at all, right? The optimal barrel length is 10-14", and maybe 16" for pushing air bunkers. Having this 20" monstrosity is probably hurting your accuracy and efficiency alot compared to other shorter smart parts barrels, like a 12" teardrop.

This, contrary to unpopular belief, has been disproven. Somebody actually TESTED it. This is information from the test. (it wasn't my test)